Overlapping Subcultures?

I was just browsing a tattoo blog and I discovered a post about an organization called Rescue Ink. I immediately noticed this post because there were pictures of heavily tattooed bikers holding puppies and kittens, which is not something one would generally expect to see. I learned that Rescue Ink is a New York non-profit animal welfare organization comprised of bikers and volunteers that include police officers, military personnel, private investigators, and lawyers. Their mission is to save animals from abusive situations; they rescue fighting dogs, confront animal abusers, find homes for unwanted pets, and investigate missing or stolen animals.

I found this group to be particularly interesting because animal lovers are considered one subculture while bikers and "street guys" are typically considered to be another, yet here the two are one and the same. I think this group definitely helps to contradict the stereotype of animal lovers as being vegan extremists while simultaneously discounting the idea that bikers are violent and malicious. This also made me think of the photo I found of a motorcycle group holding a car wash with the local SPCA. Perhaps this sort of overlap is not as uncommon as one might think.

Here is a link to their website if you are interested in learning more.

Ethnopoetics

          abused, neglected, treated cruelly -
          euthanize

          we behave arrogantly,
          callous and ignorant

          grief...

          from people.
          from us -
          human actions

          it breaks my heart -
          it fills me with anger -

          they deserve so much more

I used Lorna's words from my second formal interview in order to create this poem. I think deconstructing and reorganizing her thoughts really helped me to get to the heart of her relationship with her work as a humane educator.

Though I enjoy writing poetry, I found it difficult to create an ethnopoem. I think the reason I struggled so much with creating this piece is that I am usually inspired to write because of specific words or images I have that I want to convey. It was difficult for me to write something using another's words without inserting my own ideas.

Formal Interview #2

For my second interview I spoke with Lorna Steele, the Director of Humane Education at the RISPCA. Her main responsibility is to organize and lead humane education programs for a variety of audiences including children, senior citizens, and scout groups. I remember Dr. Finocchio mentioned on a number of occasions that there is a link between animal abuse and domestic violence, so I found it especially interesting to hear about the various programs and material that the RISPCA uses to educate the public on humane and ethical treatment of all living things.

Though Lorna's focus is on humane education, she mentioned that she also gets involved in a lot of other RISPCA operations. For example, she helps to manage the volunteers, assists with fundraising events, and is currently working on redesigning the RISPCA's website. From my observations and interactions with other people at the shelter, I've found that the workers there have a great sense of teamwork and are not at all reluctant to go above and beyond their job descriptions.

Formal interviews were an interesting experience and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to speak to some official members of the organization, but I think I should try to gather some additional insight from non-paid volunteers in the future.

Formal Interview #1

I conducted my first formal interview with Dr. Finocchio, the director and president of the RISPCA. Dr. Finocchio has been involved with the RISPCA since 1973 and has been the president since 2002. Because I've been researching adoption, surrender, euthanasia, and animal care in general in relation to the economic climate, I was interested in learning more about the Marvin Fund, which was founded in order to help people provide medical care for their animals. I was pleasantly surprised that Dr. Finocchio brought up the Marvin Fund without any prompting or particularly leading questions. Dr. Finocchio explained to me that the fund was developed because he understood how profound the bond between human and animal can be, especially to the indigent, elderly, and disabled people that the fund is intended to benefit, and that he thought these people should be helped. I also learned a little more about Marvin himself. From my independent research and observations, I knew that Marvin was a dog that Dr. Finocchio had adopted. I learned from this interview that Marvin was also disabled, and that he visited nursing homes, Hasbro Children's Hospital, and was the National Therapy Dog of the Year. Marvin also earned $350,000 through his paintings and the book that Dr. Finocchio wrote about him entitled Marvelous Marvin. Though I knew a little bit about Marvin from the RISPCA website and various news articles I found, it was very interesting to hear about him directly from Dr. Finocchio.

I asked a lot of open questions and I was pleased to see that Dr. Finocchio greatly expanded on my original points. This interview provided me with a lot of good insight into the operation and environment of my fieldsite. I am excited to talk to some other people in order to get their views on the RISPCA.

Update

I visited my fieldsite again on Friday October 25, at around 2:30. I didn't think there would be very many people around at this time but there was surprisingly a lot going on! One thing I noticed in particular was a woman with a small poodle accompanied by a man who appeared to be her son. From my observations I gathered that they were at the RISPCA to see the veterinarian. When the woman was checking out with the receptionist, she commented that she didn't want anymore dogs after their current ones had passed, and the receptionist expressed a similar sentiment. I was surprised to hear this from people associated with the subculture at the RISPCA, as one would assume that they are animal lovers who have lots of pets like previous volunteers I've spoken too. This interaction made me think about some other possibilities. Maybe some people choose to work or volunteer at the RISPCA because they like animals but don't want the responsibility for caring for their own or can't have one at the moment for whatever reason. I noticed that the woman expressed this idea when she was checking out and presumably paying for the cost of the dog's visit and medication. This made me start to think about what sort of effect the economic climate has on animal adoption. Is the adoption rate dropping? Do more people adopt from shelters or buy from breeders? What is the adoption rate as compared to 10, 20, 30 years ago? Are more expensive animals like dogs less likely to be adopted than low maintenance animals like cats and rodents? I feel like the answers to these questions could generate an interesting discussion and help me uncover some tensions within this particular subculture. At this point in my study, I am beginning to schedule some formal interviews. Perhaps these interviews can help shed some light on my questions.

On an unrelated note, I managed to spend a decent amount of time in the dog room on my last visit. There were a lot more people at my fieldsite this time, and having other people in the room with me put me a little more at ease. There was an elderly couple looking at dogs while I was taking my notes and I was surprised to notice that they seemed completely unfazed by the barking. Maybe I'm just overly skittish? I was also at my best friend's house today and I took a picture of her two german shepherds. I figured I'd post it here seeing as I mentioned them in a previous post.

Daisy and Luther

I feel like I'm starting to get more comfortable with fieldwork. Hopefully my formal interviews go well!

The Digital Landscape of the RISPCA

The first online resource I explored was the RISPCA's website. While being a rather obvious choice, it is an informative and reliable source because all of the information comes from the organization directly. This website provides general information about the RISPCA, including things like the location, hours of operation, a historical background of the organization, and contact information. It also displays animals available for adoption, programs and services available, events, and resources for pet owners. The RISPCA has its own Twitter, Facebook page, and YouTube channel, and links to these secondary sites can be found on the organization's home website. I also found the RISPCA's Petfinder page if you're interested in seeing some of the animals they have up for adoption right now. While all of these resources are incredibly helpful, relying on websites run by the organization itself probably won't lend itself well to uncovering rich and varied 3rd person sources. I also found several news articles regarding the RISPCA, which are helpful in getting an idea of what this organization does and how it is recognized by local media.

I searched the RISPCA tag on Tumblr, but there were only four posts, none of which revealed anything interesting or unusual. Searching the SPCA yielded many more results, including links to the blogs of different chapters of the SPCA such as the Richmond SPCA and the San Francisco SPCA, though the latter hasn't updated in a year. It was interesting to peruse these blogs and their posts. Besides finding the links to these blogs, the SPCA tag was not very helpful. One thing I did find, however, was an Instagram photo from a car/bike wash sponsored by a local SPCA group and a motorcycle club, and I thought those two organizations seemed to be an unusual partnership. One would not normally expect a group of motorcycle enthusiasts to be overtly interested in animal welfare, but this photo provides an interesting development in the exploration of stereotypes surrounding SPCA subcultures.

Though they are separate organizations, the Humane Society's website seems to have a lot of information that could be helpful in my research of the RISPCA. The tab labelled "Our Work" explains a lot about animal rescue and advocacy, and it seems like the RISPCA does a lot of similar work. I also found an article called "How Animal Detectives Work," with one page devoted specifically to discussing animal welfare organizations and how they operate. This page discusses laws in place to protect animals, such as the Animal Welfare Act, and the different animal welfare organizations that work to enforce these laws. In regard to the authority given to animal detectives, the article states: "To enforce animal anti-cruelty laws, many animal officers/detectives carry badges, wear uniforms and are granted similar authority as police officers. While specific authority differs by state, most animal detectives have the power to make arrests, serve search warrants, use reasonable force against perpetrators and may be authorized to carry firearms (with weapons training)." This article also discusses the difference between abuse (intentional acts) and neglect (failure to act). I found the information regarding the enforcement of anti-cruelty laws to be interesting and very helpful, though I will have to research what sort of authority Rhode Island grants its animal detectives.

There is a lot of information about animal rescue organizations in general as well as resources specifically about the RISPCA, and this search has definitely helped me locate some sources that could supplement my study.

Pictures and Videos from October 10

That last post kinda ended on a sad note so I figured I'd post some pictures and videos I took at the RISPCA last week.